| Concert Tour Name: | Kala Tour |
| Album: | Kala (2007) |
| Start Date: | 20 May 2007 |
| End Date: | 20 December 2007 |
| Number Of Shows: | 21 in Europe 37 in North America 6 in Australia 4 in Japan 68 in total |
| Last Tour: | Arular Tour (2005) |
| This Tour: | Kala Tour (2007) |
| Next Tour: | People vs. Money Tour (2008) |
The Kala Tour is a 2007 global M.I.A. concert tour performed in support of her studio album Kala (see 2007 in music).
The tour features dates across Europe, North America, Canada and Asia. M.I.A. began performing in support of Kala at Radio 1's Big Weekend on 20 May 2007. She made sporadic appearances at venues in the US during late 2006, including performances at Gotham Hall in New York City on 31 August 2006 where other performing acts included Cee-lo and The Rapture, and at McCarren Pool on 3 September 2006 where other performers included Spank Rock and Amanda Blank. This tour followed recording for Kala, and the Arular Tour, which ended in February 2006 with performances in Japan. The 2007 Kala tour was announced by M.I.A. on her official website and Myspace page.[1] The setlist featured songs heard for the first time from her studio album Kala (2007), and also included songs from previous album Arular (2005). Dates included concerts at music festivals, universities, colleges and club venues around the world.[2]
Concerts during the tour often began with political activist Koichi Toyama on a panoramic screen delivering an anarchic speech, ordering the overthrow of a government. The setlist often began with Kala's opening track "Bamboo Banga." M.I.A. selected programming, beats and videos during her set using a Lemur Input Device on stage, and performed dates with back up singer Cherry, DJs Sinden and Low B, supporting vocalists and backup dancers "The Coconut Twins" (Kesh and Zezi Ifore).[3] [4] On the back screen, disembodied images and film footage of break-dancing street kids, strippers, tigers, war, video games, political rhetoric, graphs, globes, laughing women and large concert crowds from her previous shows are played throughout the show.[5] Fans were often invited on stage during the performance of "Bird Flu."
M.I.A. has collaborated with CassettePlaya, Ashish and Brian Lichtenberg and as with the Arular Tour she wore some of her own designs on tour. T-shirts such as the "How Many How Many" Tees from the "Boyz" set were sold as tour merchandise at gigs and via her website. "Kala Tour Tees" from her "Kala Tour/Okley Run" line were released in 2008.[6]
M.I.A.'s date at the House of Blues in Chicago, US was performed with Lupe Fiasco and Emily King, whilst her dates at the Arena of Nîmes in France and at the Fox Theater in the US were performed opening for Björk.[7] Her date at the Verizon Wireless Theatre was performed with Paul Wall.[2] Although reports suggested that M.I.A was booked and subsequently cancelled an appearance at the Glastonbury Festival in 2007, a statement released by M.I.A.'s agents explained "Contrary to printed reports in the Guardian Guide, M.I.A. advised Glastonbury that she was unavailable to perform in late May. We are sorry if fans were led to believe otherwise. M.I.A. looks forward to performing next year.“[8]
More dates were added to her US tour after September 2007 due to high demand. M.I.A. ended 2007 with a mini-tour of venues across the U.K.[9] She and her label XL Recordings made available a tour diary of her late 2007 UK dates in different parts to view on YouTube.[10] [11] Opening acts throughout her tour included The Gray Kid, Rye Rye, Santigold, Holy Fuck,[12] The Cool Kids, Soko, Radioclit, Buraka Som Sistema and Afrikan Boy. Her DJs also often played opening sets before her shows. On her YouTube account, M.I.A. posted a video of her and her tourmates during an encore performance of "Paper Planes" at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia, where she named the tour the "KALA Back 2 P.O.W.A. Tour."[13]
The KALA tour ended in December 2007, with will.i.am, Paul Wall, the Beastie Boys, Nick Zinner and Brian Chase of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Pavement's Mark Ibold among attendees.[14] It was followed by M.I.A.'s People vs. Money Tour in 2008.
M.I.A. did not follow the same setlist at every show, but played combinations of the following songs. "Galang" and "Paper Planes" were variably chosen as the final song she played for the encore depending on the venue. During the Terminal 5 club performance, part of the CMJ Music Marathon, she performed mash ups of New Order's "Blue Monday" with "Jimmy", "10 Dollar" with the Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)", (from the mixtape Piracy Funds Terrorism) and "Galang" with Lil Mama's "Lip Gloss". It was noted that the latter "served as a reminder of how much the mainstream pop/dance/rap landscape has shifted since M.I.A. first appeared in 2004, and how much certain megahits such as Fergie's "London Bridge" have come to resemble her sound."[14]
Encore:
| Date | City | Country | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Europe | |||
| 20 May 2007 | Preston | England | Moor Park |
| North America | |||
| 21 July 2007 | Brooklyn | United States | Coney Island |
| 25 July 2007 | Studio B | ||
| 28 July 2007 | San Francisco | Rickshaw Stop | |
| 30 July 2007 | Los Angeles | The Echo | |
| 31 July 2007 | |||
| 3 August 2007 | Chicago | Grant Park | |
| 4 August 2007 | House of Blues | ||
| 5 August 2007 | Baltimore | Pimlico Race Course | |
| Europe | |||
| 13 August 2007 | Paredes de Coura | Portugal | Praia Fluvial do Taboão |
| 16 August 2007 | Hasselt | Belgium | Kempischesteenweg |
| 17 August 2007 | Cologne | Germany | Gloria Theater |
| 18 August 2007 | Biddinghuizen | Netherlands | Walibi Holland |
| 21 August 2007 | Nimes | France | Arena of Nîmes |
| 23 August 2007 | |||
| 24 August 2007 | Paris | ||
| 26 August 2007 | London | England | Clapham Common |
| 1 September 2007 | Stradbally | Ireland | |
| 2 September 2007 | Inveraray | Scotland | |
| North America | |||
| 8 September 2007 | Toronto | Canada | Toronto Islands Park |
| 9 September 2007 | Montreal | Parc Jean-Drapeau | |
| 11 September 2007 | Detroit | United States | Fox Theatre |
| 14 September 2007 | Austin | ||
| 15 September 2007 | San Francisco | Treasure Island | |
| Australia | |||
| 22 September 2007 | Melbourne | Australia | Birrarung Marr |
| 23 September 2007 | Adelaide | Botanic Park | |
| 28 September 2007 | Melbourne | Forum Theatre | |
| 29 September 2007 | Brisbane | City Botanic Gardens | |
| 30 September 2007 | Sydney | Moore Park | |
| 1 October 2007 | Perth | Wellington Square | |
| Asia | |||
| 5 October 2007 | Nagoya | Japan | Nagoya Club Quattro |
| 6 October 2007 | Osaka | Shinsaibashi Club Quattro | |
| 8 October 2007 | Tokyo | Shibuya Club Quattro | |
| 9 October 2007 | Liquid Room | ||
| North America | |||
| 18 October 2007 | New York City | United States | Terminal 5 |
| 19 October 2007 | |||
| 20 October 2007 | Toronto | Canada | Kool Haus |
| 26 October 2007 | New Orleans | United States | City Park |
| 27 October 2007 | Las Vegas | Sam Boyd Stadium | |
| 29 October 2007 | Miami | Studio A | |
| 31 October 2007 | Atlanta | Earthlink Live | |
| 2 November 2007 | Houston | Verizon Wireless Theater | |
| 3 November 2007 | Austin | Hogg Memorial Auditorium | |
| 4 November 2007 | Dallas | House of Blues | |
| 7 November 2007 | San Francisco | The Fillmore | |
| 8 November 2007 | Mezzanine | ||
| 9 November 2007 | Los Angeles | Wiltern Theatre | |
| 11 November 2007 | San Diego | Canes Bar & Grill | |
| 14 November 2007 | Vancouver | Canada | Commodore Ballroom |
| 15 November 2007 | Portland | United States | Roseland Theater |
| 16 November 2007 | Seattle | Showbox SoDo | |
| 20 November 2007 | Minneapolis | First Avenue | |
| 21 November 2007 | Chicago | House of Blues | |
| 23 November 2007 | The Vic Theatre | ||
| 24 November 2007 | Detroit | Majestic Theater | |
| 26 November 2007 | Montreal | Canada | Metropolis |
| 29 November 2007 | Washington, D.C. | United States | |
| 1 December 2007 | Philadelphia | Electric Factory | |
| Europe | |||
| 8 December 2007 | London | England | Institute of Contemporary Arts |
| 10 December 2007 | Birmingham | Custard Factory | |
| 11 December 2007 | Newcastle | Digital | |
| 12 December 2007 | Glasgow | Scotland | The Arches |
| 14 December 2007 | Brighton | England | Concorde 2 |
| 15 December 2007 | Bristol | Anson Rooms | |
| 17 December 2007 | Nottingham | Rescue Rooms | |
| 18 December 2007 | Manchester | Manchester Academy | |
| 19 December 2007 | Norwich | The Waterfront | |
| 20 December 2007 | London | The Coronet | |